1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to a developing apparatus for developing a film which has an electrostatic latent image, under a liquid developer in a developing chamber while applying a bias voltage.
2. Description of the Related Art:
Electrophotographic apparatuses of the type which is capable of recording an image on a predetermined frame of an electrophotographic film and projecting or copying the recorded image are known.
Further, process heads disposed in an electrophotographic apparatus for performing charging/exposure and development have been proposed, for instance in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,600,291 and 4,697,912.
Such the process head disclosed in either of the above-described applications includes a charging/exposure section, a developing section, a drying section and a fixing section which are aligned in that order in the direction in which an electrophotographic film is fed at a pitch equivalent to the one at which frames of the electrophotographic film are disposed.
In the above-described developing section, negatively charged toner particles contained in a liquid developer adhere to the positively charged portion of the electrophotographic film, by which an electrostatic latent image is made visible. At this time, a bias voltage is applied to a developing electrode which is disposed in the developing section and which forms a developing chamber so as to prevent the image from fogging. Further, the distance between the developing electrode and the electrophotographic film is set to a small value in order to reduce the amount of liquid developer which is applied per frame.
However, when the electrophotographic film is brought into contact with the developing section, it may vibrate, causing a discharge between the electrophotographic film and the developing electrode to which the bias voltage is applied. Accordingly, there are problems that the discharge breaks the electrostatic latent image formed on the electrophotographic film in correspondence to the image pattern of a document, an image of good quality cannot be consequently provided.